[1] James Emerson Reynolds was born at 5 Booterstown Avenue, Blackrock, County Dublin on 8 January 1844.
He published his first two papers in 1861, at age 17, "On a new process for photographic printing" in the British Journal of Photography and "On the oleaginous matter formed on dissolving different kinds of iron in dilute acids" in Chemical News.
With the encouragement of his father, Reynolds studied medicine at the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons in Edinburgh, receiving his licentiate 1865.
Although he had no formal training in chemistry, at age 23, he was offered the position of keeper of minerals in the Royal Dublin Society (RDS) in March 1867.
Reynolds' took part in scientific meetings and public lectures on topics such as absorption spectra and ozone.
From 1870 to 1875, he was professor of chemistry and physics at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI), as well as working as a public analyst and consultant.
In 1875, he co-authored a Manual of public health in Ireland, and led the analysis of the Vartry water supply to Dublin.
[1] He left the RDS and RCSI in 1875 to take up the post of professor of chemistry at Trinity College Dublin (TCD) in 1875, succeeding Dr James Apjohn.
In 1888 he proposed a number of reforms introducing scholarships and studentships in the sciences and lengthening of the curricula, as well as degrees at under, postgraduate and research levels.